States across the country are making tremendous progress in expanding access to school health services while strengthening their school Medicaid program.
The 17 states that have expanded their school Medicaid programs (as of May 2022) are serving more than 15 million children and youth in grades K-12, and more states are working toward expansion.
Many states also are exemplifying best practices that support the delivery of school health services to students enrolled in Medicaid. These changes include:
- Implementing policies that support cross-sector data sharing to better coordinate care.
- Advancing changes in telehealth policies and programs that expand access to school health services.
- Recognizing additional school health providers (e.g. school psychologists, behavior analysts, school social workers, physicians assistants) as qualified to bill Medicaid, resulting in federal reimbursement for their services.
- Facilitating partnerships with community-based providers to expand access to and coordination of care.
Given that 37 percent of school-aged children are covered by Medicaid, it is critical to build on these successes and ensure they are scalable and sustainable to support expanded access to school health services. Here’s a look at how seven states are moving forward.
